The New Pride
by The Queen of Spar Oom
Summary: Simba senses danger, but no one believes him except his grandcub, Rana. Soon enough, Simba's predictions come true when a new pride comes to take over Pride Rock!However, these are cats that no lion has seen before, except Simba and Rana. HEY! CHAPTER 2 I
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

Something had been bothering Simba lately. He had this odd feeling that there was trouble in the near future, but he wasn't sure what. All was going well for him at the moment. He and his wife, Nala, had cubs, the pride was getting along well, no worries. Yet, he couldn't help but be anxious, and Nala had noticed.

"Simba, would you please tell me why you are so worried?" She asked him one day as he sat on the edge of Pride Rock, looking out over the African Savannah. "You have been pacing Pride Rock like a fretting zebra." Her eyes were filled with concern. Simba looked back at her from his gazing out on the savannah. "There is nothing wrong. I'm fine. We are all fine. Kiara and Kovu are doing well; their cubs have turned out fine. There is nothing to worry about." He was about to keep going, but his lioness stopped him, with a chuckle. "Honey, I have known you since you were a mere cub being licked clean by his mother. I know you. When you pace and ramble on like this, there is something on your mind." She smiled. "You can tell me." At this, she gave his majestic face a soft lick. The great lion leader of the pride couldn't take it. His one weakness was his wife's concern and persuasion. "I don't know. There has been this strange feeling I've been having lately. I feel as though something bad is about to happen."

"Simba." Nala interrupted. "You are just being paranoid. Things have been peaceful lately; well, if you don't count that warthog friend of yours, Pumba's, gas." The two lions chuckled at this. If there were any natural disasters on the pridelands, it was if Pumba the warthog had eaten something that didn't agree with him. "All the pride leaders have it when nothing happens for a while. Things have been going so well lately, I guess you just miss all the old adventure. I think you might just be bored and inventing your worry. Its very normal for your brain to create false senses of danger. Even your dad did it."

"You are probably right, I need to relax. There is nothing to worry about. We are fine. We can calm down…" Simba said.

"Simba."

"Yes?"

"You are rambling again." His wife said with an amused smile.

All of a sudden, they heard the scratching of little lion cub paws climbing as fast as they could up the rocky side of Pride Rock. "Grandma! Grandpa!" a shout of Kiara's cubs rushing to greet them.

As the rest of them exchanged kisses and playful nips, Simba held back. "Nala is right." He thought to himself. "I need to relax. Everything is all right." However, the more the lion tried to convince himself of this, the less certain he became.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

As Simba was pondering to himself, he suddenly felt little cub teeth gnawing softly at his tail. He turned around to find his grandcub, Rana, grinning up at him. "Hi Grandpa!" She cried as she jumped up and gave him a kiss. He smiled. Rana had special kisses. They could make one feel happy even in the most desperate of times. "Hello sweet heart." He replied, returning her smooch. At this moment, Rana's two older brothers, Marko and Toni, jumped onto Simba's head. "Hello boys." He laughed as all three cubs jumped on him.Simba rolled over on to his back and they all wrestled. The fun ended suddenly when Kiara, Simba's daughter and the cub's mother, called. "Marko, Toni, its time for your baths!" The two boys trudged over to her, growling all the way. Tongue baths were the worst part of the week. However Rana, who always had her bath separately, stayed behind.

"Grandpa, can I talk to you about something?" She asked. Rana always confided in her Grandpa.

"Anything Rana." Simba replied. "What is it?"

"Well," The little lion began. "I was out playing with my brothers in the tall grass today and I saw something that scared me. We were playing hide and seek and I was it. When I heard something over in some trees, I ran over to see if it was Marko.

When I got to the tree, I shouted, "Ha! I found you! Now you're it!" I expected to hear him complain that I didn't play fair, but I heard a low snarling. Marko could never snarl that low!" At this point, Rana took a quick break in her story. Simba wanted to keep going. By the sound of her voice, Rana could be telling the story that could be about the danger Simba sensed! "Please continue." He urged.

"Ok." Rana started up again. "So when I heard such a low growl, I looked up and there were four huge cats in the tree! Except, they weren't lions or cheetahs.They were almost as big as lions, only thinner and covered in spots. I never found out who they were because I ran off. I just kept running and running. I've never been more scared in my life! You should have seen their teeth, Grandpa! They were almost as big as yours! I was able to smell them before I ran off though. It was like nothing I have ever smelled! It smelled like dead antelope and tree bark. When I tried to tell Toni and Marko what I saw, they just laughed at me!"

Rana panted hard and stared up at him with wide eyes. Simba could tell she was telling the truth. "Have you told anyone else?"

"No. I tried to forget about them and it almost worked. I didn't remember until we came to see you and Grandma. I smelled their same scent on another tree, but there was more of it!"

"Thank you for telling me Rana. That was very responsible. I think I know who those cats are that you saw." Simba said, worry in his eyes. "You do? Who are they? What do they want?" The cub returned eagerly.

"They are leopards and I think they are back for revenge."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Rana stared at her grandfather in disbelief. Her mind raced with questions. "Why do they want revenge? What did we ever do to them?" Simba could see the worry building in her eyes. "Please, Grandpa, tell me the story!" At this moment however, Kiara called Rana for her bath. "I'm afraid that will have to wait until tomorrow, sweet heart." Simba gave her a kiss goodbye and the little cub ran off, disappointed that she had to wait.

That night, Simba told Nala about his conversation with Rana. "What! Leopards? They can't be here again! It's been years! They were supposed to be banished to the jungle!" Nala was practically screaming with fright. Leopards were one of her greatest fears. "Nala, calm down. We don't want all the Pride lands to hear us! We have to keep this under wraps until we know for sure!" Nala looked at him. Suddenly, as many do when they are worried, Nala became angry. "Isn't that just like a leopard! Holding a grudge! If they ever show their faces around here, they'll have to fight me!" Simba smiled and at the same time felt sorry for the leopards. His wife could be a fierce fighter. "Lets hope they don't come here, or they'll be sorry!" Simba laughed.

First thing the next morning, Simba could see the tan little body of Rana running as fast as she could towards him. Instead of the usual greeting, the first thing Rana said, or in this case shouted, was, "Can you tell me the story now, Grandpa? Please!" Simba felt a bit guilty when he saw her. He could tell she had been up all night thinking and fretting about their previous conversation. "O.K, calm yourself. I'll tell you." The little cub looked relieved as she settled herself down for the story. "Now, it was many years ago, here on the Pride Lands, when I was your age."

Rana interrupted. "You were my age once?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I was! I'm not that old!" Laughed the lion. He cleared his throat. "Any way. As I was saying, I was your age and your great grandfather, Mufassa was king of the Pride Lands. Back then, there were three main types of great cats that lived here; Lions, cheetahs, and leopards. As you know, lions ruled the land as they do now. The cheetahs were just fine with that. They liked to live here, without all the responsibility of ruling. Leopards were different though. They thought that they should rule the Pride Land.

Mufassa tried to reason with their leader, Chui. We gave them rule over the edge of the savannah, where the Pride Lands meet the jungle. The lions figured since they went back and forth between the two places, why not give them the land near by it as well. However, Chui didn't have the same opinion. He claimed that the leopards were here first, so they should rule.

We tried everything. Positions in our council, more land, even hunting locations. Yet, they still wouldn't agree. Leopards are known for their stubbornness. They wouldn't take anything less then total rule. Still, the lions tried to reason with them.

"Why couldn't you just send them away?" Rana piped in.

" They were a big part of our society. Leopards protected the creatures and helped kept the peace. That is the duty of all large cats in the Pride Lands. The thing was, the leopards weren't helping at all. In fact, they were causing trouble. Leopards were harassing lions, fights broke out, and our society was falling apart. My father was usually a very peaceful lion, but when the leopards killed one of his advisors, he wasn't going to let the leopards carry on. He called Chui for a meeting.

The leopard leader arrived at the meeting with an army of his followers at his tail. I was there next to my mother, watching the whole thing take place. I had never been more nervous. The leopards scared me, just as they scare you. " What do you want, lion?" Chui snarled at Mufassa. "I believe you took something from the lions." Mufassa replied.

" We didn't take anything from you!"

" Then how do you explain your followers taking the life of our chief advisor? You have crossed the line! We can't let you continue!"

" It is not we who took something from you, but you lions who took from us! We were here first, we deserve to rule! And we will fight if you do not give us back our throne!" Mufassa sighed. He always hated war. "I am about to give you one more chance, Chui. We will give you the entire southern border of the Pride Lands. We don't have to have lives lost over this issue. Do you agree or not?" Mufassa looked at Chui with the fiercest glare I had ever seen. Fire raged in his eyes. I had never known my father to get angry, but when his people were at risk, he could be the most ferocious lion to walk this planet.

"How many times must we tell you, lion?" Snarled Chui once again. "We rule this entire land and since you won't hand it over to us, then I declare war!"

"Then war it shall be." The war hadn't even begun yet, but my father looked defeated. His wish for peace was denied. He had done all he could. Unfortunately, war was the only option.

Over the next few months, my world was nothing but fighting. Everyday, I saw lions and leopards killing each other, nothing held back. I was disappointed that I was too young to fight; I wanted to help my father. However, even if I were old enough, my mother wouldn't have allowed me to. Being the prince, I had to stay back and watch. It was terrible.

After almost a year of fighting, we finally won. My father and his remaining army had over powered the leopards and defeated them. As punishment, the leopards were sent away to live in the jungle. They lost all power they had and were no longer under the protection of the other animals. It hurt us a lot, but we couldn't have any more of their violence.

The leopards never forgave us. The day that they all migrated to the jungle, Chui looked back at Mufassa. "You may have won the war, lion, but we leopards will have our revenge. Mark my words! You all will pay!" That's the last we ever heard from them again."

Simba sat back. The worried look had grown on Rana's face. "I guess they are back, just as Chui said." Her voice trembled. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know. We need to first find out if they are here to stay and fight. Tomorrow night, we will go and search for them. Leopards will most likely be out hunting at night."

"I want to help!" Rana cried. It reminded Simba of himself back when he wanted to fight in the war. He didn't want her to feel the same disappointment as he had. "Ok, you may help."


End file.
